Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 035
Chapter Title: Kid's Dad (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Honestly, escaping? I'd been thinking about it since the first day I got thrown in here.
The building was obviously rundown, inside and out.
The mortar between the bricks had crumbled to dust, and the floor was riddled with spots softened and rotted from moisture.
And there were goddamn hordes of rats.
The guards stomped them flat into meat patties all the time, but even so, there were still tons of the little bastards.
"Squeak?"
Look at this one.
Right in front of my nose, it was gobbling up crumbs of hardtack bread that had fallen on the floor.
I knew I got called a rat bastard a lot myself, but apparently now I was one of them, because even when our eyes met like this,
"Squeak squeak? Squeak squeak squeak?"
[What're you staring at, rat buddy? First time seeing someone eat?]
it was like the thing was saying, just munching away contentedly on the spot with its whiskers twitching.
Anyway, all these vermin meant there had to be holes they were coming and going through.
If there were rat-sized holes, then surely a person could make one big enough to squeeze through.
So every time the guards' snoring echoed as they sprawled out asleep, I'd grope the walls and tap the floor like a madman.
Until my nails split and blood seeped from my fingertips.
And I found it.
The farthest corner of the cell, where the slop bucket sat against the wall.
A crumbly spot soaked with moisture that gave way with a squish when I pressed it.
Now the problem was tools.
No matter how damp and shitty the wall was, it was still a stone wall.
My hands weren't made of iron wire from some wuxia novel,
and scraping and clawing until I bled wasn't going to get me all the way through.
My trusty dagger? Confiscated long ago during the strip search where they even spread my cheeks.
But not with Noy.
She was obviously drooling, eyes glazed from drugs—a little girl.
Not even proper clothes, just wrapped in bloodstained scraps of red cloth.
The guards didn't even want to touch her, so unlike me, they just gave her a quick glance and let it slide.
So while I was draped in prisoner rags, this kid was still in the same getup she'd come in with.
Which meant,
at the end of the red velvet curtain wrapped around Noy's body,
a sharp, sturdy iron ring that had come loose when they yanked it hastily from that scorpion bastard's room.
That one thing was still in my possession.
Scrape, scrape.
"Dada, whatcha doin'?"
"Shut your mouth, you little bitch."
So from day one, I'd been at it constantly,
working until the metallic tang soaked into my fingers.
Like a puberty-stricken teen hiding under the covers at dawn, dimming the lights, popping in earbuds, and jerking off.
Stealthily, secretly, magnificently.
"Snore... hack!"
"......"
Okay, honestly, blatantly sloppily.
And today.
Thud.
The last chunk of brick fell out to the outside.
"......It actually worked."
Cool night air whooshed in through the gap.
The architect who'd built this prison must've been too lazy to dig underground,
so they'd just plopped it right on the surface— a straight shot where prying out a few bricks got you straight to the outside world.
The walls were even thin.
Sloppy half-assed construction existed here just like in my past life or this one.
Whoooosh.
Earth, grass, and the scent of freedom filling my nose.
A prison break moment so moving it had me leaking precum.
But,
"......Tch."
The hole was too small.
Big enough for my head and maybe one shoulder if I really shoved.
While digging, I'd just shoved my arm in deep and scraped, so I hadn't noticed,
"Ahh... fuck, it's stuck."
but trying to push my whole body through, my upper half got wedged tight.
Suddenly, I hated my beloved right-angled inverted triangle frame.
In the end, I backed out again.
"Haa... goddamn it."
I hadn't even used proper tools—just crudely scraping with that short iron ring for not that long,
but it was still an impressive feat. I could've bragged,
'Fuck, I dug all this out with that tiny rat-dick hook?'
flexing my exploits,
but the problem was there was no one to brag to.
"......Huh?"
Just this kid here.
Whose brain was mush and couldn't understand a damn thing.
I could dig more if I wanted.
The hook was still fine, and the wall was mushy.
You pick up the knack for manual labor quick enough.
Time was the issue.
Even at best, it'd take another six or seven hardtacks' worth of time to finish.
And all I had left was tonight.
Tomorrow at noon, my head was coming off.
"Uuu... c-cold, so cold."
The wind blowing in through the hole must've been chilly,
because Noy crawled over and plastered herself against me.
A skeletal, emaciated body.
Malnutrition so bad you wouldn't believe she was fifteen.
'This kid...... could make it.'
I might not get out,
but a scrawny little thing like this could slip through easy.
"Fuck, all this work for someone else's benefit."
I didn't have some noble sacrificial spirit where I'd throw away my life to save her or anything.
Purely a lack of time and tools.
Couldn't tailor the hole to my sexy bod, that's all.
Since I'd already made it,
it'd be a waste if no one used it.
"Hey, look at this."
I pulled out the hardtack I'd gotten for dinner,
given to her, then snatched back,
and dangled it in front of Noy's eyes.
"Bread! Bwead!"
"Shh, no yelling, or I'll shove it up your ass?"
I flung the hardtack through the hole to the outside.
"That bread you love so much? Tossed it out there."
Then I shoved her headfirst into the hole,
patting her butt to push her through as I said,
"You're a slum rat kid, right? You eat stuff off the ground all the time."
"Hurry up and scarf it down before someone else grabs it."
She might not understand words,
but gluttony was instinct, human or beast.
Noy flinched for a second,
then crawled toward the hole like she was mesmerized by the bread smell.
Soon her tiny soles disappeared through with a pop.
Done.
One annoying burden taken care of.
Whether she starved out there or got caught and killed, not my problem.
Who knows, maybe.
Stray cat ladies might see her furry street-rat self and take pity with some chow,
or if she's extra lucky, someone might adopt her kitty ass.
As long as she didn't scream 'I do drugs!'
and just looked like a pitiful, dim-witted kid, she'd be fine.
The slums would've snatched up a lone kid for rape, sale, or begging,
but this was the kingdom's heart.
Commoners without slum scum, so relatively safer.
Of course, if a guard who knew her face caught her,
that'd just be bad luck.
Nothing more I could do,
releasing her into the wild like this was the best.
"Better than 100% getting your head chopped tomorrow, right?"
Try arguing that, you worthless Beat.
After cursing the kid's mom out like that,
finally,
since I hadn't slept properly once between watching my back and digging,
I figured I'd lie down, savor the fresh outside air drifting in, and crash hard.
The moment I lay down,
rustle.
"......?"
Those grubby little feet from before
stuck back out from the hole.
"......Fuck."
"Dada!"
"What're you doing! Go!"
I hissed at her quietly.
But Noy came crawling back inside empty-handed, without even picking up the bread.
"Why'd you stop! Why come back!"
The kid didn't answer, just toddled over and burrowed into my arms.
She hugged my waist tight and rubbed her face against my chest.
"Get lost, I can't stand looking at you."
So,
I shoved her in again.
......She came back.
Shoved her in again.
......Came back again.
"Daddaa...... huu..."
"......Hah."
This was driving me insane.
The bread fiend comes back with it right there in front of her?
"What the hell is wrong with you."
I tried prying off the clingy pest but gave up from exhaustion and let her be.
Now she was even clutching the prisoner sack I was wearing like she never wanted to be separated.
"I didn't kill your mom, did I?"
"M-mom?"
"Yeah, your mom. Beat."
"......Dada!"
Of course, she couldn't understand.
Just rubbing her cheek against me happily, giggling hee-hee.
I leaned my head against the wall in defeat and sighed.
If this was gonna happen, I should've stuffed that bread in her mouth instead of throwing it.
Fill her belly on the way out and let her croak stuffed.
"Goddamn idiot."
I roughly stroked the head nestled in my arms.
Last supper blown, escape blown.
All that was left was the end of a suckling fee,
being a useless kid's dad.
"......No, can I still grab it?"
I shoved her off and shot to my feet.
Thinking about it, I hadn't thrown the bread far.
Didn't wanna yeet it too far 'cause her dumb head might not find it.
Deliberately dropped it right outside the hole on the ground.
I flopped back down at the hole.
Cramming my body in, I stretched my arm as far as it would go.
"Nngh... fuuuck thiiiis......"
My shoulder screamed, collarbone felt crushed.
But no giving up.
It was the kid's last meal,
and my final scrap of pride—not dying having done jack shit.
Fingers scraping the ground, inching forward.
A bit more. Just a little more.
A fifty-something uncle from past and present life,
tearful ass-out struggle to reclaim that worthless hardtack.
Brush.
The hard, rough texture grazed my fingertips.
Got it. Fuck, I touched it.
"Grrk... gk khk..."
Inhuman groans escaped as I willed my fingers to twitch with everything I had.
Finally, barely,
as my nail hooked the edge to drag it back...
Whoosh.
"......?"
The bread was gone.
It'd been right there at my fingertips,
vanished into thin air like a lie.
"......What?"
I numbly groped empty space.
Rat snatch it? Rolled away?
I squinted out the hole.
But.
"......"
Where the bread should be, something else was.
Worn leather boots.
And above them, fluttering dull gray cloak hem.
A person?
Ah, fucked.
Brain freeze.
Thinking a patrolling guard spotted me,
breath caught, heart stopped dead.
Swish.
Then, the shadow slowly crouched down.
The view through the hole filled up.
The face, backlit by moonlight.
"......Told you not to regret it."
One hand holding the hardtack I'd been desperate for,
the other propping her chin as she stared straight down at me. A woman.
"You shitty employer."
Baekrin.
That bitch.